Many Reasons for Concern Over Rising Debt

Although the federal deficit has dropped significantly since the four-year string of trillion-dollar-plus shortfalls that began in 2009, under current law the deficits will start rising again soon.

Sara Imhof, Midwest field director for The Concord Coalition, and Loren Adler, research director for Fix the Debt, recently outlined some of the reasons why Americans should be concerned about that. A high and rising debt can increase the risk of another financial crisis, raise interest costs for taxpayers, push up investment costs for businesses, and reduce productivity and wages.

“High federal debt could also restrict the nation’s flexibility to respond to unforeseen crises in the future,” Imhof and Adler wrote in a guest column Monday in the Loveland Reporter-Herald (Colorado). “Finally, there is a simple moral issue: We should not burden our children and grandchildren with debts for government services and benefits that we refuse to pay for ourselves.”

On Wednesday Concord, Fix the Debt and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis will present “Principles and Priorities,” a federal budget exercise, in Loveland. Participants will work together to develop plans to significantly reduce projected federal deficits over the next decade.